tmanthedman wrote:It says on status checker that apps could take up to 12 weeks from complete date for a decision. Went complete 9/17, so it's been exactly 11 weeks for me. Could decisions ever take more than 12 weeks?

ED, went UR2 on 10/25

I had a 10/25 update too just no clue if that was UR2 for me haha was not paying enough attention to it I guess

Question. Looking through this thread and several years of Penn, it seems like "Why Penn?" might have been the best "optional essay." Do you guys get this sense? Does interest matter much for Penn? I submitted a diversity statement. Is it worth sending a "Why Penn?" update. I just had a spring internship interview and if I'm accepted, I'm going to be sending them that outcome as an update to my file anyway....

Question. Looking through this thread and several years of Penn, it seems like "Why Penn?" might have been the best "optional essay." Do you guys get this sense? Does interest matter much for Penn? I submitted a diversity statement. Is it worth sending a "Why Penn?" update. I just had a spring internship interview and if I'm accepted, I'm going to be sending them that outcome as an update to my file anyway....

Question. Looking through this thread and several years of Penn, it seems like "Why Penn?" might have been the best "optional essay." Do you guys get this sense? Does interest matter much for Penn? I submitted a diversity statement. Is it worth sending a "Why Penn?" update. I just had a spring internship interview and if I'm accepted, I'm going to be sending them that outcome as an update to my file anyway....

tmanthedman wrote:It says on status checker that apps could take up to 12 weeks from complete date for a decision. Went complete 9/17, so it's been exactly 11 weeks for me. Could decisions ever take more than 12 weeks?

ED, went UR2 on 10/25

I had a 10/25 update too just no clue if that was UR2 for me haha was not paying enough attention to it I guess

It probably means you went UR2 then because it seems like all of the ED applicants who submitted early in the cycle went UR1 on 10/2 and UR2 on 10/25.

Question. Looking through this thread and several years of Penn, it seems like "Why Penn?" might have been the best "optional essay." Do you guys get this sense? Does interest matter much for Penn? I submitted a diversity statement. Is it worth sending a "Why Penn?" update. I just had a spring internship interview and if I'm accepted, I'm going to be sending them that outcome as an update to my file anyway....

I'm interested in this question as well.

Right after I submitted my application I panicked because I began reading that writing 'Why Penn' is a MUST and I hadn't done it.

Honestly, I hated the way the question was phrased. It wasn't an invitation to tell them some personal reasons about why I wanted to go to Penn, it looked like they wanted me to regurgitate their brochure while adding an element of "Who am I?" which was really annoying because I wrote a PS about that.

Anyway, I've decided to let it go. Granted I ED'd so that's a pretty big "Why Penn" substitute, and granted I don't even know if I got in, but whatever.